*** Official Planetside 2 Thread ***

Well been playing for a hour.

Flying is a god damn crap experiance now and the Platoon I was with pretty much agreed. I play with a lot of the guys who spam ps-org. Sure people on Miller have seen that outfit?

Anyway, it's constant lock-on when you fly, doesn't matter where you go, soon as you get close to a enemy base, it's lock-on after lock-on. I can pop flares every 30 seconds for my Mossy while my Lib can only pop flares every 45 seconds.

But the A2A can reload and fire every 5-6 seconds or so? Since there is always more infantry then air, that time reduces when you got more then one person aiming and locking you up which pretty much equals to you spending more time repairing for XP then doing anything else.

I said this many times before but the Devs haven't got a clue on how to balance a game, whenever they buff or naff anything, it's always to the extreme, there is no middle ground, it's always far right or far left.

The A30 walker is meant to be a beast now.

The new Ranger gun is meant to be bad but it does pack a punch, almost killed my Mossy a few times. I think the Skyguard has had a ninja-buff too.

I don't know what the Devs want air units to do in this game? Be it A2G or A2A ESF's? I always thought of them as what Air is meant to be like, control the air, control the ground. But soon as you fly over a mass army of units, a zerg if you will, there is so much flak and A2A, you get torn to bits and that's just flying over. The ESF's are not fast enough like todays fighter jets to make fast fly-bys, their rockets can only do so much damage and you need to do lots of passes to kill a target.
 
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The walker did need a bit of a buff to be honest. Shame they haven't done it on tanks.

I haven't flown since the latest patch (I will later) but I found flying my scythe ok yesterday at least.

On the flipside, I picked up a burster max versus an air zerg, had an engineer to repair me and a building to hide in - killed 3 ESFs, 1 Lib and deterred countless others.

I agree there's too much AA now, but how do you balance it? If 1 burster max can take down a careless ESF pilot alone, and 2 burster maxes can take out an experienced ESF pilot, how the hell do you scale that when you've got a zerg?

The ESF's are not fast enough like todays fighter jets to make fast fly-bys, their rockets can only do so much damage and you need to do lots of passes to kill a target.

I actually think this is the answer. ESFs are not fast enough. If they made ESFs top speed much higher, you would be less likely to get killed by random AA you weren't trying to kill, but it wouldn't necessarily make killing ground targets any easier, or stop them from being fired at if they try to go easy mode hover rockets. Using them as dive bombers would be fun and might just not be OP.
 
The problem was that nobody was actually using the hand-held anti air before now because it was so completely and utterly useless (my stats on the hawk - shots fired 576, kills - 0. For a lock on weapon that was just silly).

So they'll probably have to tweak a bit now that they're actually seeing proper use.
 
There is a really good post over in the official forums asking about the role of air in the game that sums what the current state of the game is.

To give a short version, the role of Air has been pretty much destroyed, we can't really provide ground cover over hot zones to support the ground forces because soon as we enter any zones like AMP or Tech stations, there is so much AA, you die and if you lucky enough to get through, you might have a enemy ESF chasing you to finish you off.

So, what if the ground forces go in and sweep the enemy out, well if that happens, then the battle has been won, what is the role of the Air forces to do then?

Higby or whatever his name is, said a while ago that Air is meant to counter Air and ground is meant to deter, now it's reversed.
 
The problem with the balancing of air isn't necessarily the relative power but the perception of strength leading to over/under usage.

Air is super strong, AA isn't. So not many people are using AA as it's a waste of time..
.. they buff AA ..
.. now everyone is using AA en masse, air can't do anything.

Where to go from there? nerf AA again and nobody will bother using it and air will dominate in hideous fashion again... sucks either way but I'd rather have it sucking against air than sucking against ground.

Personally I think the problem lays in what roles are available to air... a single ESFs (without AA present) is way too effective against ground, even without rocket pods the main guns let you snipe infantry and wreck vehicles, libs being able to hover makes them unstoppable death machines the second AA isn't giving coverage... so I think buffing / nerfing AA vs Air is a dead end, properly balancing the roles air fills so ESFs are weak against ground but strong against air and libs can be strong against ground, weak against air, but are operated as a bomber rather than a gunship would let you revert all the AA buffs and let air have it's place.
 
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That's the problem about fps's/mmos with arcadey vehicles and ground mechanics.
To balance, you'd never "see" an air unit so easily until it was too late or on an attack run or via tech assistance, it would have a set amount of countermeasures and ECM until it ran out, it would have a harder time spotting ground units, they wouldnt be so wide spread and easy to obtain. They'd be a force multiplier but with draw backs just like in conventional warfare.

That's why you can't balance it, it's the type of game it is, it's not simulating anything at all, it's just a light show with infinite lives/vehicles and absolutely zero punishment for failure. You never lose, you just win sometimes.
 
There is a really good post over in the official forums asking about the role of air in the game that sums what the current state of the game is.

To give a short version, the role of Air has been pretty much destroyed, we can't really provide ground cover over hot zones to support the ground forces because soon as we enter any zones like AMP or Tech stations, there is so much AA, you die and if you lucky enough to get through, you might have a enemy ESF chasing you to finish you off.

So, what if the ground forces go in and sweep the enemy out, well if that happens, then the battle has been won, what is the role of the Air forces to do then?

Higby or whatever his name is, said a while ago that Air is meant to counter Air and ground is meant to deter, now it's reversed.

This is pretty much the same for the MBTs though. When slugging it out with enemy tanks, the biggest threat on the battlefield is enemy HA and ESFs. A tank can pop smoke to deflect a few incoming rockets but as soon as they reload another volley comes your way. Lockon distance for HAs is longer than the render distance for infantry so rockets come from targets that are not even rendering. If by some mirracle you survive (having had to turn your weak rear armour to the enemy in order to retreat at full speed) you get rocket podded in the ass.

At the moment the game is sufferering from :-

not enough balance thought pre-release (ESFs in there current form should never have made it too release),

too many band-aid fixes (the game didnt need so many HA AV options, and certainly didnt need the anihilator),

and not enough foward planning (we didnt need a FLAK weapon on the MBTs, that person should be sat in a skyguard). What we needed was the skyguard fixing and the G30 Walker fixed so it was a detterent instead of a pea shooter thats hard to jit with.

ESFs should have been either a 2 man vehicle from day 1 or an air version of the lightning.
Vehiciles in general should be more powerfull (not in damage but in defence).
To offset this some cost or investment should have been invloved to combat spam.

The problems are all arising because they are trying to balance the game to cater for 2 groups of people. The solo lonewolfs who want to be rambo either on foot, in a tank or in a plane VS the team players who want to run in groups and have multiple occupany vehicles. While sony continue to think like this and also be driven by the cash shop we will continue to see weekly band aid solutions and new pointless items in the shop.
 
6 month road map is up: http://www.planetside2.com/roadmap

Page is getting hammered atm, the list below was posted by someone on my outfit forums so I don't know how much additional info is on the official page.

January

More secure spawn rooms at small outposts This entails adding more windows and doors, as well as a canopy to protect against aircraft. This should make spawn camping more difficult and will be present across all small outposts.

Experience Incentives The idea behind this Incentive system is that higher “priority” targets are worth more experience than others. So killing someone on a wicked kill streak nets you more XP than killing someone... Read More

Player Invincibility on Spawn Getting killed right as you spawn in is not fun. One of the things we can do to try and reduce frustration on that front is add a very brief period of invulnerability to a player in that situation.... Read More

Defender Only Jump Pads In an effort to help support general defense at facilities, we’re exploring the idea of having jump pads which allow players to quickly traverse the walls only be usable by the Empire in control of... Read More

Creating "No Deploy" zones for AMS equipped Sunderers We are currently discussing mechanics which would allow designers to designate areas within a base or facility that Sunderers cannot deploy in. The initial use of this ability will be to disallow... Read More

Destroying the SCU only penalizes Spawn Timers Currently, destroying an Spawn Control Unit (SCU) completely removes that Spawn point from the facility until it is repaired. Unfortunately this can have the effect of ending a fight too quickly and... Read More

Experience Source Display Improvements We want to display the total Experience bonus percentage rewarded whenever you get the applicable experience. Currently this would show as a small popup next to your Cert point display right above the... Read More

Tower Redesign
The layout of towers will be altered to include more shields and an additional exit from the spawn room. The hope is to make spawn camping in the towers a more difficult proposition.

Window Plugs We are making windows all across Auraxis’ bases and facilities smaller, so it should be tougher for tanks and planes to shoot into buildings.

Spawn Room Tunnel System In our ongoing effort to mitigate spawn camping, we're planning on adding some spawn room tunnel networks to provide additional escape paths. The current plan is to add these to all Tech Plants and... Read More

Rendering Distance Based on Threat We want to mitigate the impact of render distance on enemies that are a direct threat. For example, anyone that pilots air vehicles can probably attest to how lame it is to get shot down by AA players... Read More

SMGs We want to add a new weapon type, the Submachine Gun (SMG), to the game. The current plan is to make them accessible to all classes outside of the MAX Stats on the individual weapons will vary... Read More

February

Regional Empire Priority System The intent for this system is to allow the game to set "priority level" for regions based on what activities are taking place there. These areas would come with score/XP bonuses to encourage fights in... Read More

Improved Item Preview We want to add the ability to preview an item on the player’s current Loadout for their class/vehicle so everyone can get a better idea of what it's really going to look like in context. This... Read More

Increase the number of vehicle cosmetic slots We offer a bunch of sweet cosmetic customizations for vehicles, but we only let you equip them one at a time. We'd like to add additional slots that will let you equip multiple customizations on your... Read More

Account Level Unlocks We would like items purchased with Station Cash to be unlocked across all characters on the account who can utilize them. This change would be retroactive to prior purchases.

Daily Medals/Achievements We'd like to add in daily achievements/medals for weapons and tools which could include things like: "Kill 10 enemies with the CARV" or "Revive 10 allies with Revive Grenades" would net Experience or... Read More

Community Grief Reporting
We're investigating ways to improve the reporting tools available to the PlanetSide 2 community at large to help identify and call out hackers and other griefers. This would include things like being... Read More

Loadout Screen Revamp We want to take a pass at cleaning up and enhancing the Loadout screen. Specifics are still pending, but the goal is to make common actions more convenient. For example: Changing tints on your... Read More

Separate Score from Experience At the moment experience and score are tied too closely together, so if you buff your experience, you end up buffing your score as well. That’s misleading and not really fulfilling the intention for... Read More

Spectator Mode We would like to add Spectator Mode for live gameplay observation.

Orbital Strike Orbital Strikes are intended to help push enemy players out of an area by turning that area into a series of large explosions. Players should have enough warning time to potentially escape the area,... Read More

VR Training Area Learning how to play the game under live fire conditions can be pretty daunting. To help address this, we’re planning on adding in a VR Training zone that will be a safe haven for players to try out... Read More

Pump Action Shotguns
We would like to add a new weapon type, the Pump Action Shotgun. These shotguns fill a similar role to the existing semi-auto’s already in game, but trade rate of fire for increased damage.

Vehicle Update: Flash We want to add new abilities and weapons to the Flash. Current ideas include: Adding additional weapon types Wraith (cloaking the quad) option for infiltrators We're still brainstorming, so call out... Read More

Empire Specific Rocket Launchers We would like to add Empire-specific rocket launchers, including things like player guided rockets, multiple lock-on swarm missiles, and a charge fire mode into the mix.

March

Player Generated Missions PlanetSide 2 has always embraced the idea that the core game content is totally player driven, so the mission system just takes that idea a little further. We want to give players (with appropriate... Read More

Implants Implants would utilize a new loadout slot and provide special bonuses that allow you to further tailor your class to the way you want to play. Example implants might include stuff like: Silent running... Read More

Class Revamp: Light Assault We would like to polish and enhance the Light Assault class We’ll investigate the possible additions of new tools, new abilities, and new suit options We want to add the ability for the Light... Read More

Ragdoll Physics Ragdoll physics would make every explosion a potentially amazing scene of amusement and spectacle. As Planetside 2 has a large output of explosions, this seems like it would would make for a fun... Read More

Color Blind Support We would like to put control of the UI color schemes into the hands of the player, allowing each user to set up colors that they find useful individually across key elements throughout the game.

Convenience Items There are a handful of items we'd like to add to the Depot that will allow players to accomplish some commonly requested actions through an SC purchase: Certification Reset Name Change Server Transfer... Read More

Improved Map and Respawn To improve the respawn process, we would like to essentially merge the map screen and the respawn screen so you’ll have access to better and more relevant information when deciding where you want to... Read More

Cert Screen Revamp We would like to polish and streamline the certification screen currently in game, making it more efficient and intuitive.

Tutorial We would like to improve and expand the in-game tutorial by adding guided interactive training elements to VR training zone. Current plans include tutorials for: Basic Intro Classes and Certifications... Read More

Continent Locking In order to start laying the foundation for a proper metagame, we've been putting a lot of thought into continent locking. There are a lot of little snags and details still to work out, but the basic... Read More

MAX Flamethrowers A new weapon type for MAX suits, the Flamethrower will be designed to inflict sustained damage against soft targets.

April

In-game Mail We want to add an in-game mail system to help on the communication front, likely contained somewhere in the existing notification screen.

Gifting We plan on adding support for gifting items to other players.

Empire Specific Run Animations We'd like to add some variance and Empire-specific feel to the player run animations.

Facebook/Twitter Integration We'd like to improve the social networking features in game, specifically by leveraging Facebook and Twitter. For Facebook, we'd like to add support for: Linking an account to your character Post from... Read More

Outfit Recruiting Rolling with an outfit in PlanetSide 2 is really making the most of what the game has to offer in a myriad of different ways, so we want to make the process of finding an outfit and finding new... Read More

New Continent: Hossin Adding a brand new continent: Hossin! Hossin is a swamp covered continent. Bask in the glow of some sweet concept art.

Interlink Facility The Interlink facility is a brand new base type on the scale of the Biolabs, Tech Plants, and Amp Stations. It includes a giant radar dish that will offer great cover from aircraft and has difficult... Read More

Vehicle Update: Sunderer We want to give a little love to the Sunderer. Early ideas include: Add more weapon types Add additional squad spawn certs For example, allowing you to ignore deployed Sunderer radii We're still... Read More

Common Pool Heavy Pistols We're planning on adding a new pistol type to the common pool of weapons that specialize in hitting hard. As common pool weapons, they will be available to all factions. In exchange for their high... Read More

May

Class Revamp: MAX We want to improve and polish the MAX class. As part of the improvements, we would like to add in unique abilities per faction: TR: Lockdown At the expense of losing mobility, the TR max can shift... Read More

Taunts We want to add the ability to display a taunt on your target’s killscreen and play a taunt animation on demand with your avatar. Ideally we might want the ability to customize a killscreen that... Read More

Voice Packs Right now we only have two player voices per faction (male/female). We’d like to start supplying different voice packs that you can use to change the voice of your character to help add more... Read More

Resource Revamp The primary goal for re-addressing the resource system is to make sure it does a better job making resources drive the combat taking place, make sure they have real strategic value, and generally have... Read More



June

Vehicle Zoning We would like to allow vehicles to travel between continents by entering the Warpgate beam in each Empire's Warpgate area, instead of forcing players to abandon their vehicles

Player Made Decals Wouldn't it be cool to roll around sporting your outfit’s custom logo on all outfits and vehicles? We think so too, so we want to give players the ability to make their own decals for use in game.... Read More

Outfit Tournaments We would like to create a structure for direct outfit competition to be used for tournaments and e-sports. Outfits will be compared to other like-sized outfits in leaderboards which can be thought of... Read More

Outfit Progression We'd like to add growth and progression to Outfits. One of the ideas we have for doing this is to allow players to contribute points to their Outfit by earning experience, and when enough points are... Read More

Outfit Leaderboards Our goal for Outfit Leaderboards is to allow players to compare their Outfit to another via pre-determined scoring metrics (that we are still in the process of determining). Now when you brag about... Read More

Outfit Base Capture If your outfit is the top contributor to a base capture, we’ll identify the facility/outpost as “belonging” to your outfit. We still have a lot of work that we’ll need to iron out on this,... Read More

Supply Containers Supply Containers are locked boxes that hold somethingrandomish and potentially spectacular inside. In theory, you would then ask yourself: WHAT"S IN THE BOX?! Unable to not know what splendor might... Read More

Air Vehicle Passenger Transport In an effort to streamline the loading of air vehicles we're interested in exploring support for allowing players to teleport directly into an open seat. The hope is that this would alleviate issues... Read More

Improved Vehicle Deconstruction We’re still working out specifics, but the general idea is that when you manually deconstruct a vehicle, you’ll get back a portion of the resources you spent to acquire it.

Per Seat Vehicle Locking Adding the ability to lock vehicles at the individual seat level instead of the all or nothing options currently available.

Faction Pistols Adding new pistols for each Empire: TR: Auto-Pistol – A fully automatic pistol. NC: Scatter Pistol – A shotgun and a pistol had a baby. VS: Charge Pistol – A pistol with a charge up mechanic;... Read More

New Vehicle: Buggy Adding a new common pool vehicle, the buggy. These are four-person vehicles designed to provide smaller units of soldiers an appropriate means of transport. The breakdown of seating looks like this:... Read More
 
good to see they have a fairly packed plan for each month going forward, hadn't really seen much change since it launched (might just be me though!)

I had a good night tonight, think I've started to find my favoured class, the infiltrator. Had spent time in the past playing with other classes, but with some certs in my infiltrator weapons I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere!
 
I'm fairly lukewarm about the 6 month plan. Its all "we think we are going to do XYZ, but we are not sure yet" even the January items seem not to be set in stone, and we don't have a a lot of January left. I personally think that at least Jan and Feb are set in terms of dev time and that votes or random whining on the forums will make little difference to what is actually being coded.

Feels to me that they are wafting feathers in the wind, even now, in some attempt at trying to make the community feel more involved, after leaving us in the lerch since the frankly too early launch.

My advice is don't bother reading the official forums, and looking at some of these changes, I would hope SOE don't pay much attention to them either, so in that respect, I was hoping for a little more "this is what we are going to do" rather than "help we are not quite sure what we are going to do".

If I set up a 6 month plan with no determination or sure fired decision making in my job, I would be out of work before I knew it, which makes me think (hope) that they know a little more about what they are doing before "throwing the decision making to the wolves"...

That said I am still really enjoying this game, and have been playing it almost every day since tech test in July, so I can't really grumble :)
 
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